Let S={1,2,3,4,.....19,20} Suppose that n is the smallest positive integer

Level 2

Let S={1,2,3,4,.....19,20} Suppose that n is the smallest positive integer such that exactly eighteen numbers from S are factors of n and only two numbers which are not factors of n are consecutive integers. Find the sum of digits of n.


The answer is 36.

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1 solution

Brian Moehring
Jul 27, 2018

Note that if a b ab is not a factor of n n for relatively prime a , b > 1 a,b>1 , then at least one of a , b a,b is not a factor of n n ; however, since neither of a , b > 1 a,b>1 is consecutive with a b ab , this would contradict the definition of n n . That is, if a b S ab \in S where a , b > 1 a,b>1 are relatively prime, then a b ab must be a factor of n n , or in other words, if m S m\in S is not a factor of n n , then m = p k m = p^k is the positive power of some prime.

We can even go one step further, as if p a S p^a \in S for some prime p > 1 p>1 and 0 b < a 0\leq b < a such that p b S p^b\in S is not a factor of n n , then p a p^a is a multiple of p b p^b , so p a p^a is also not a factor of n n . As once again we can see that p b , p a p^b, p^a are not consecutive, this would contradict the definition of n n . It follows that if p a p^a is not a factor of n n , then p a + 1 > 20 p^{a+1} > 20 is not an element of S S , so the only possible nonfactors of n n are the maximal prime powers of S S .

We can list these: 2 4 = 16 , 3 2 = 9 , 5 , 7 , 11 , 13 , 17 , 19 2^4 = 16, 3^2 = 9, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19 , or in order: 5 , 7 , 9 , 11 , 13 , 16 , 17 , 19 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 16, 17, 19 of which the only two consecutive numbers are 16 , 17 16, 17 so these must be the two nonfactors of n n from S S . It follows that n n is the smallest positive multiple of the elements of S { 16 , 17 } S\setminus \{16,17\} , so n = lcm ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 18 , 19 , 20 ) = 2 3 3 2 5 1 7 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 9 1 = 6846840 n = \text{lcm}(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,18,19,20) = 2^33^25^17^111^113^119^1 = 6846840 and the sum of the digits is 6 + 8 + 4 + 6 + 8 + 4 + 0 = 36 6+8+4+6+8+4+0 = \boxed{36}

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